Despite my vehement internal monologue, my heart flutters treacherously, and I’m blinking a bit too fast as I approach the counter.
“You didn’t have to do this,” I tell him.
“Of course I did. It’s your twenty-first birthday. Now sit down and eat.”
I plop down on a stool and reach for the fork, but before I can cut into the pancakes, I notice they’re dotted with tiny dark-brown spots.
A frown furrows my brow. “What are these dots?”
Wyatt gets a sheepish look. “Um. Freckles. Chocolate-sauce freckles.”
It takes every ounce of emotional restraint not to blubber like a baby and soak my breakfast with tears. But this might be the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me.
Noticing my expression, Wyatt grumbles under his breath. “Don’t make a thing of it, Logan. It’s just a birthday breakfast.”
I can only nod, because my throat is too tight to release any words.
His gesture stays with me all morning, circling my heart in a warm, gooey aura of pure joy. And my spirits only soar higher when I’m upstairs changing into my bathing suit and a much-awaited email arrives.
1 NEW EMAIL
Dear Ms. Logan,
Attached are the documents you requested. You can also access them via thislink. Please consider this ticket resolved.
For future, please deal directly with me regarding these types of requests.
Cordially,
Mary Holmes
“Holy shit,” I exclaim, racing outside.
I run to the railing and peer over it. Wyatt is on his usual lounge chair but without the usual cigarette dangling from his mouth. We haven’t been to town in a few days, and I think his pack ran out and he’s too lazy to replenish.
“Guess what!” I bound down the steps to the dock. “The records officefinallysent me the documents I’ve been harassing them about.”
“Is this the office that burned down and all the records were lost?”
I grin. Half the time, I wonder if he’s actually listening to me or just making up more song-worthy situations in his own head. “It didn’t burn down. The catalog was digitized, but there was a data breach, and everything got erased.”
“Oh, right. That was it. My reason was better.”
“Your reason was fiction! Anyway, they luckily didn’t destroy any of the originals, but it’s taking them forever to redigitize, and the woman who runs the department was refusing to dig through the boxes for me, remember?”
“Right. So she finally caved?”
“Oh. No,” I say dismissively. “I convinced one of her staff to do it, and now she’s pissed. Her email was passive-aggressive to the max. She signed itcordially. But she still sent the documents. On my birthday too! It’s, like, the best present ever!”
His lips twitch. “I mean, I thought my freckle pancakes were pretty good.”
“They were also the best. But listen to this…” I pause for dramatic effect, which summons that smile he was fighting. “Raymond Loughlin did hook up with Darlie’s sister, Dolly. In fact,” I say triumphantly, “he married her!”
“No shit.”
“Yes. Their marriage certificate was filed in a county on theCalifornia side of Tahoe. They were married six months after the date on Darlie’s death certificate. Which is close enough to when Raymond was with Darlie that it stands to reason he and Dolly really were having an affair.” I’m brimming with excitement as I pace the dock. “And I also have a purchase agreement for a house in Reno, but then they sold that and listed their forwarding address as a place in Albany. Do you know whatthatmeans?”
“Do Iwantto know?”
